KT signs agreement with O2 Company on smart fish farming

KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, plans to advance into the sea farming business.

KT said on Sunday it had signed a business agreement with O2 Company, which specializes in marine fisheries, to jointly build a "smart aquaculture cluster."

Smart farming improves productivity by integrating information and communications technology (ICT) into fish farming facilities. It automatically controls optimal growth conditions such as water temperature and water quality while enabling data-based fisheries management.

The agreement calls for the two companies to cooperate on establishing the communications networks and integrated control systems needed to operate the full array of equipment necessary at fish farms.

Since fish farms are generally located in coastal areas, the two sides decided to consider the corrosion resistance of telecom equipment.

They also agreed to localize a recirculation aquaculture system (RAS), in which water is recycled and reused after mechanical and biological filtration and removal of suspended matter and metabolites.

KT considers smart farming an area that can create synergies between ICT and existing industries, given that fish catches are declining due to climate change and environmental pollution.

"Application of our ICT technologies to smart fish farming facilities will create various synergy effects," said Yoo Chang-kyu, head of KT's North Gangwon Province corporate customer headquarters, adding: "we will cooperate with different companies to develop the best model cases."

The Korean government is actively promoting smart sea farming, and calling for local governments nationwide to build smart aquaculture clusters. Six such clusters are under construction in Busan and other locations.

The domestic aquaculture industry has a relatively high proportion of marine fisheries with low accessibility such as cages, and it has been difficult to introduce and revitalize smart farming because of the small scale of fish farming.

Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com